Dear Friends,

I hope your week is going well. The weather continues to bless us with warmer than usual days, and really, ‘no snow.’ It’s been a strange winter here in Minnesota, although, I’m sure we will see the snow, not just yet.

Looking forward to Lenten worship: Please watch the email for a reminder of a very special Wednesday evening worship/ Cantata on March 13. Special thanks to Trychia Borgstrom for arranging this special evening. Other special Lenten worships this season will include: Maundy Thursday/First Communion; Good Friday worship. (both at 6:30 pm) Easter Morning worship at 8:30 am and 10:00 am.

As we are now in the Season of Lent: our theme is “Gather Us In.” I hope you will think about all the ways God gathers you in every day as God’s child, and all the ways God gathers us together as the community of the Body of Christ in this place.

Going deeper, how does your faith walk, your life journey reflects the promises of God made for you in Holy Baptism? How does the example of your life reflect your faith in your daily life? These seem like simple questions and yet they are not. To truly reflect on how your faith impacts your life is to dive deeper into your relationship with the One who calls you to faith, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The Lenten season is a time to reflect, a time to give up some comfort for a while, a time to reach out to others, a time to serve and to pray and to participate in the discipline of the Christian faith. The Lenten season invites us into the opportunity to do the harder things in our lives: to examine our journeys, to make adjustments in our lives, and to pray that we might live lives of faith, knowing we are being called always to do the great things in the kingdom of God.

During the Lenten season, we have a tradition of hosting a sacrificial giving opportunity. This year, you are invited to make an additional, financial gift to Peace Lutheran, above and beyond your normal giving pattern. If you choose to participate in this opportunity, please put “Gather Us In” in the memo of your check. If you intend to make a large gift to Peace, please let me know that you are a ‘foundational givers’ this season. We need many to step up as ‘foundational givers’ and it’s good to let the congregation know of the amounts that have been contributed for this purpose. We do not publish the names of these ‘givers’, as we know that you are honored by remaining anonymous in your giving. Lent is the season of the year, when we take time to adjust our lives, as I mentioned before. I encourage you in your prayer life to seek God’s direction in your life path and also giving to others of your time and your resources, as financial resources and giving are part of our journey together. God blesses us with so much, and we are invited to turn, and to be a blessing to others in all the ways that we have been called to do so. As always, this invitation is not to those among us who are struggling financially, and for whom sacrificial giving would be a hardship.

I purchased devotional books for adults, youth and children for the Lenten season. The variety of these are available on the cart in the Fellowship Hall. Please pick up a copy as you prepare for Lent. I hope these resources bless you in your Lenten journey!

For those of you interested in Adult Confirmation Class; we will have adult confirmation instruction on Saturday, April 27, beginning at 9:30 am. On that same day, we will have a New Member Orientation Class, at 1 pm, for those of you wishing to join Peace Lutheran. The Adult Confirmation class will attend both sessions, while those wishing to transfer membership from another Lutheran church will need only attend the afternoon session. Please contact the church office to sign up for one or both sessions, and to ask any questions that you might have about the day.

As we prepare for Easter Celebrations, we are already working on our Holiday Baskets. If you or a family member or friend who would be blessed by receiving an Easter Holiday Basket, please contact me or contact Julie in the Church Office. These contacts are confidential. For all of us, please look at the needs of our food shelf, and those needs for the holiday basket list. We appreciate all of your donations as we seek to serve the community and the families of Peace Lutheran.

Please note the announcements that follow in the body of this email.

I hope you have a good week! Take care, be safe…



Pastor Valerie